Time spent in Budapest: 332 hours
Number of steps: 194397
Modes of transport: 3
Coworking spaces visited: 5
Coffees consumed: 18
Productivity score: 64%

Tools: Moves & Mapbox
Yellow: Walking
Red: Transport

I spent 14 days in Budapest this October.
Here are a few notes and thoughts:

• Budapest is a lot more modern and Western than I expected. Especially the city center is very similar to Vienna.

• This also applies to the cost of living, which was not as cheap as I had hoped. Airbnb’s are quite cheap (~€30-40/night for an apartment in the city center). A good cup of coffee will cost you roughly €2.5. An average restaurant meal is about €10. Coworking spaces were surprisingly expensive, ranging from €10-18 for a day pass.
• To be fair though, most coworking spaces offer trial-days, so in theory you could probably work for free for almost a week just by visiting a different space each day. During my stay I worked from Impact Hub, KAPTÁR, LOFFICE, KUBIK and Mosaik. LOFFICE is probably the nicest space, but also the most expensive. My overall favourite was KAPTÁR: Open from 8:00 – 20:00, super nice staff + community, and they have standing desks.

• In addition to co-working spaces, you can also work from most coffee shops. People are super relaxed about you bringing a laptop and working for a while and there’s free WiFi everywhere. The Magvető Cafe was particularly nice for laptopping.
• Also: A lot of these places offer really good, third-wave-ish coffee. If I had to recommend one, it would be Espresso Embassy.

• As a flexitarian who hardly eats meat, I was a little concerned about the availability of vegetarian food in Budapest (Eastern European cuisine tends to be quite meat-heavy). To my surprise there were a lot of Jewish /Mediterranean restaurants, of which I can especially recommend DOMBRUMBA and Mazel Tov.
• Transportation: I already wrote a few words on how awesome Budapest’s metro system is. Uber has unfortunately been banned (for the usual technophobic reasons in Europe). Taxify is a pretty solid alternative though.

• As an avid swimmer, one of my metrics for quality of life is availability of swimming pools. I’ll give Budapest a 10/10 here. The Hajós Alfréd Nemzeti Sportuszoda is amazing (50m heated outdoor pool!); you should also make sure to visit one of the city’s thermal baths.

Budapest has some incredibly beautiful metro stations. Especially the new M4 line is really well designed and feels more modern than most underground lines you would find elsewhere in Europe. The other lines are significantly older (the Budapest metro is the oldest electrified underground railway system on the European continent in fact) and look like straight out of a Wes Anderson movie. Here are some pictures I took during the last 130 minutes I spent underground.

Summary

Read (parts of) 3 books (65 min, +17%) and 40 long-form articles (+29%).
Listened to 551 songs (+1%), 2 audiobooks (740 min, -7%) and 7 podcasts (0%).
Watched 3 movies (+50%), 9 soccer matches (+29%) and 14 TV episodes (-44%).

Books

Homo Deus (Yuval Noah Harari)
░░░░░░░░░░░░░▓▓ Progress: 90-100%

F (Daniel Kehlmann)
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Progress: 0-100%

American Pastoral (Philip Roth)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-5%

Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)
░▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 4-8%

Reality is Broken (Jane McGonigal)
▓░░░░░░░░░░░░░░ Progress: 0-5%

Recommended Articles

Definite optimism as human capital (Dan Wang*)
* Discovered his blog through this article and enjoyed almost every post. Go subscribe!

Why WeWork Thinks It’s Worth $20 Billion (Wired)

Artificial intelligence: ‘We’re like children playing with a bomb’ (The Guardian)

From Muhammad to ISIS: Iraq’s Full Story (Wait But Why)

YC’s Essential Startup Advice (Y Combinator)

Recommended Podcasts

Scott Galloway: Should Amazon buy Nordstrom next? (Recode Decode)

Music

Top Artists: Maya Jane Coles, The National, Washed Out, Philip Glass, Arcade Fire
Favorite Song: Maya Jane Coles – Weak